The NatCen Blog

Here we’ll be talking about our research in the context of the latest news, opinion andanalysis through comments from our team of experts. We’d love to hear from you, so post comments or get in touch with us.

The latest data shows that drug use and dependence may be falling among young people. Hayley Lepps asks whether young people are really less likely to take drugs now – or are we just not asking them the right questions?

World Mental Health Day was this week. The theme this year was ‘Investing in mental health’, so it was heartening to see the Department of Health and Comic Relief committed to giving £20 million to the next phase of Time to Change, England’s programme to tackle mental health related stigma and discrimination. Soazig draws on findings from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) 2007 that reveal the relationship between smoking and mental health in England.

Suicide arguably remains one of the last taboos. The stigma and myths attached to suicide - and mental illness more generally - can prevent people from telling others about how they feel and seeking help. World Suicide Prevention Day, held every year on the 10th of September, promotes a worldwide commitment to the prevention of suicides and the reduction of stigma. Valdeep Gill discusses our Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Study and related findings on people's experiences of suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide.

For some time now political control has been devolving from the centre. Individual regions, local authorities, GP consortia, and even neighbourhood communities are increasingly making decisions about their own area. So how can decision makers understand and respond to the specific needs of their community, on an ever tighter budget? Well, Sally McManus believes they could commission local research to find out what their community needs.

Recently, the NSPCC released data obtained by Freedom of Information requests to all 43 police forces in England and Wales. The statistics show police recorded more than 23,000 child sexual abuse offences in 2009/10, an increase of 8% on the previous year. Another available data source on this is the national Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) series, most recently carried out by us in 2007. Sally McManus who works on the APMS series reveals more.